Dan Brown will be teaching a Master Class. Dan Brown’s thrillers have sold more than 250 million copies, including The Da Vinci Code (which was made into a movie, with sequels starring Tom Hanks). In Dan’s Masterclass, he unveils his process for turning ideas into gripping narratives. He’ll teach you how to research for your story, craft characters, and sustain suspense.

Learn with one of the best with 19 lessons on writing vivid characters and realistic dialogue. There will be a workbook along with the videos, and Dan will critique select members of the class. You can enroll for $90. Have fun and learn lots!

If you haven’t heard, PitchWars has posted the mentor’s blog hops for 2018! Woo-hoo! Can you believe it’s that time of year again? Be sure to check out each mentors blog in the genre you write to see what’s on their wish list. There are 107 mentors total this year. Also, keep an eye on the agent’s pagebecause many have already signed up to participate. The PitchWars staff will update the page as more agents enroll. (So far, 63 as of this moment.)

Unfamiliar with PitchWars? This is an event where mentors select a mentee’s manuscript to revise to help them get ready for an agent round. That’s right, they help a mentee rework their entire manuscript for free. This is because agented authors and editors want to give back to the writerly community. How exciting is that? There is so much love people!

Submissions will be open from August 27, 2018 (midnight EST) and ends on August 29, 2018 (10pm EST). Manuscripts must be completed and polished in order to enter. This is the crème de la crème of writing contests and only happens once a year! So, get those manuscripts edited and select the mentors you want to sub to. You only get to pick four! And as always, good luck!

Operation Awesome is hosting a Pass or Pages this month. For this round, the category is for Young Adult Contemporary novels. Submissions open between July 9 (6am EST) to July 11 (6pm EST), 2018 This is an opportunity to get feedback from an agent on your query and first 250 words of your manuscript. Peeps, this is priceless! And as a possible bonus, the agent reserves the right to request your FULL.

This auction is online with 30 items donated by best-selling authors, literary agents, publishers, PR professionals, and others. Get critiques on queries, Skype or phone consultations on manuscripts or proposals, and so much more. It’s a great opportunity for feed back while donating to a great foundation.

The San Francisco Writers Foundation has chosen as its co-beneficiary the Binc Foundation, which acts as a safety net for independent booksellers experiencing sudden, otherwise insurmountable hardship. Binc helped 24 booksellers through 5 natural disasters last year and has provided $6.5 million to 7,300 families since its inception. Some authors that support Binc are James Patterson and Ann Patchett because they understand it’s a worthy cause! If you are a writer, you might want to help the cause and get a nice benefit of a critique in return.

Bid here and follow @SFWC on Twitter for updates. Some auctions close in 6 days, while others are closing in 7 days.

The Writing in the Margins is a website dedicated to helping underrepresented authors find their place in the publishing industry. They have a Mentor Program which pairs an emerging author from a marginalized social group with an experienced editor or traditionally published author in order to work closely on preparing an unpublished manuscript to submit for publication. All authors and editors work on a completely volunteer basis, and there is no charge to the emerging author. Applications are open twice a year, and necessary applicant qualifications are highlighted prior to the submission period. Deadline for this round is April 15, 2018. Material required to submit:

Operation Awesome is hosting a Pass or Pages this month. For this round, the category is for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy novels. Submissions open between March 12 (6am EST) to March 14 (6pm EST), 2018 This is an opportunity to get feedback from an agent on your query and first 250 words of your manuscript. Peeps, this is priceless! And as a possible bonus, the agent reserves the right to request your FULL.

In preparation for the upcoming #RevPit event, the editors of Revise & Sub have decided to do a round of #10Queries via a Rafflecopter drawing opening February 16, 2018 and closing on February 20th, 2018. The winners will submit their query and first five pages for critique on the twitter hashtag. (Names will not be posted. Editors will send emails to winners regarding which pitch was theirs.) But have no fear, there will be more than ten winners because each editor will select ten each! Participating editors are:

It’s that time of year again when Amy Trueblood and Michelle Hauck host Sun vs Snow! This is not a twitter contest, but a blog contest for unpublished writers. Last year they had 21 agents participating (half shown here and the other half shown here). Keep an eye on their blogs for agent listings for this year’s contest.

Get your submission ready via email and submit when the window opens on January 23, 2018 at 4pm EST. They only take the first 200 entries, so don’t wait to long. But if you’re worried you’ll miss the entry timeframe, Michelle has a chance to win a FREE PASS on her blog via rafflecopter and comment (deadline of January 19, 2018). Get your query and first 250 words polished now!

This is only for completed manuscripts, so please don’t send WIPs. Go here for complete guidelines.

There are also free workshops for everyone all week long. If you miss one, you can watch the replay for free too! So, if you want some cool advise on the manuscript you’re writing, go here for a chance to win and to sign up for the free workshops!

Judy Bloom will be teaching a Master Class in early 2018. While the dates don’t appear to be set, you can pre-enroll for only $90. The award winning author broke the rules. Her refreshingly honest children’s books were banned by hundreds of libraries—and loved by generations of readers, who bought 85 million copies of classics like Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and Superfudge.

Learn with one of the best with 24 lessons on writing vivid characters and realistic dialogue. There will be a workbook along with the videos, and Judy will critique select members of the class. Have fun and learn lots!